Merry Christmas

A very merry Christmas to all of you, my dear blogging friends! I hope you all will have a time of peace and relaxation, and get to spend some time with loved ones!

Take care!
Lots of hugs from Anne Ida
(and Bernie)

Test stitching blocks

The Scandinavian Fabric Swap Club is having a block swap of 12" blocks from the Quilter's Cache. I have signed up for "On the Oregon Trail" and "Prairie Queen"; today I did a bit of a test by making a block from each:

They turned out about 1/8" too small, so I have to adjust to a scant quarter inch seam allowance for the swap blocks - lesson learned :o)

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Thank you so much everyone for your comments on my Christmas quilt! I'm so happy you like it!

Hope you are having a great quilty weekend!
Sincerely, Anne Ida

C'est fini

After an intensive quilting weekend, and a couple of evenings stitching binding (boooring!!!), the feathered star Christmas quilt is ready to be snuggled under during the holidays. We are having chilly weather these days and a soft and cozy quilt will come in handy - just need to wash it first. This is how it turned out:

The quilting is fairly simple and not very dense. I played with a couple of stencils; the one with the four hearts Rose gave me for my b-day in the centre of the stars:

and a border stencil in the sashings:

I planned to use the border stencil in the border as well, but couldn't find a way to fit it in the corners, so I ended up stippling the area around the twisted ribbon border.

I'm very happy with how it turned out!

Hope you all have a great week!

Sincerely, Anne Ida

Dear friends; giving and receiving

A couple of years ago I came across a pattern for an Advent calendar in a Norwegian quilting magazine – liking the look of it, but not set for making it then and there I saved the pattern for some other time – like the end of November this year :o) For some years my friend in London and I have sent each other advent calendars if we have come across one that had a special appeal, and this year I decided I’d make her one (but not post it here until I was sure she had received it). This is how it turned out:

Not all that adventy/Christmassy since I only used from my stash, but the colours were picked thinking snow, evergreen and some purple for advent. This was so much fun to make!!! And so easy – all those kite pockets are just twice folded squares set into the seam of two background rectangles. Pressing the folds took some time, but assembling the top was done in a jiffy! The finished size of it is ca. 17”x19”, which is half the size of the pattern, I thought it was a bit big to send… I’m happy to say it made the journey safely.

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If you have been reading my blog for some time you know I’m and avid reader of the Elm Creek Quilts novels and that I’m a member of the Sylvia’s Bridal Sampler e-mailing list. You also know that through the world of Elm Creek I have made friends with some wonderful women all over the world, and today a very special present awaited me from one of those very special friends, and I just have to share it with all of you. Shelley is a wonderful woman and a fabulous quilter! And look what she made me:

This little basket is absolutely wonderful, and she has crafted it beautifully! She knows I love Jennifer’s fabrics (think we have that in common as well *lol*), and the Cross Country Quilters Collection is my all time favourite (which is why I have quite a lot of it in my stash, but somehow I haven’t found THE project to use it in…). She even embroidered “For Anne Ida from Shelley” at the bottom – no one is going to mistake this is MINE! ;o)

She has let me know there is a twin to this lovely basket with another very special quilter, tying the knot of friendship further and making it even more special. Thank you so much, Shelley! The lovely autumn leaves buttons will find their way into a quilty project one of these days, and those snow flakes are perfect for this season’s decoration.

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Sweet blogging friend Suzie has given me an award – a gold credit card for “Blogging friends forever” that is very much appreciated!

Thank you, Suzie! You know I love your blog and all your creativity, and send this back to you. But I also get to pass it on. The rules are as follows:

1. 5 people are allowed to receive this award
2. 4 dedicated followers
3. 1 new follower to your blog who lives in another part of the world
4. Please link back to the person who gave you this award.

The choice of only five is hard, since there are so many wonderful bloggers out there, but I send this award on to:
1. Rose
2. Hanne
3. May Britt
4. Yvonne
5. Janet – who only started blogging in November. From what she has shared so far she is a very talented quilter – her appliqué is fabulous! – pop over and say Hi, if you haven’t already

Have a wonderful weekend! I'll be working on my feathered star quilt :o)
Sincerely, Anne Ida